The present invention relates to the field of pre-moistened towels or towelettes conventionally-used for the cleaning of the hands or other body parts at locations remote from the home, such as in restaurants, in an automobile, in parks, restrooms, etc.
Prior known products of this type generally consist of one or more non-woven paper-type towels packaged within a sealed, sometimes-resealable envelope or package, which towels are impregnated with bacteria-resistant liquid compositions such as alcoholic solutions including oils, perfumes, embodiments, medicants and/or variety of other organic chemicals depending upon the intended use of the towels. Such paper towels have very little wet strength, cannot be laundered, and are intended to be used a single time and then disposed of. Thus, such products are commonly sold in resealable packets containing six or more moist paper towels labelled for a particular use such as for baby use, etc. While some such towels may be useful for several purposes, no such towels are suitable for all uses and some such towels can be physically harmful if used for an unintended purpose, i.e., by depositing chemicals which can irritate or infect certain body parts.
It is known that woven fabrics are stronger than non-woven fabrics such as felted paper and have excellent wet strength which adapts them for laundering and reuse. It is also known that cotton fabrics are highly absorbent of water, particularly terry cotton cloths, and have excellent softness and natural properties of purity which account for their use in dry condition in the medical field as gauze pads, bandages and other materials.
It is also known that water, particularly pure or distilled or natural spring water, is a universally-safe liquid for application to all body parts and is the most universal of all liquid solvents. However, non-sterile cotton fabrics, particularly when damp or moist, provide an ideal site for the deposit and growth of bacteria, even if the damp cotton fabric is sealed within an air-impervious package. Therefore, while woven cotton fabric and pure water are preferred materials for sanitary cleaning purposes, the combination of these materials is not available in a hermetically sealed, sterile package intended for future use in locations remote from the home.